Chicago Bears: 5 X-factor players for Week 6 vs. Panthers
1. David Montgomery, Running Back
During the offseason, Nagy spoke about how he understood that the running game is very important for a successful offense. He said as much back in May:
"When you look at the last couple years with where we’ve been, we reflect and we understand that we need to be better in the run game. When your run game isn’t quite as good as you want it to be, at that time, it’s hard to call runs."
It appeared as if Nagy was following that idea when the season began. In the first three games, the Bears running attack ran for 414 yards on 85 runs (4.9 yards per run). Nagy reverted to form in the past two games, though. In those games, the Bears ran just 30 times for 63 yards (2.1 yards per run).
Without giving the running backs enough touches, they cannot get into a good rhythm. It also goes for the offensive line. You saw on the last series in Week 2 against the New York Giants when David Montgomery kept getting the ball. The offensive line was aggressive and moved bodies out of the way. Linemen love it when they have that rhythm and their running back gets his yards.
Even if the running game doesn’t gain many yards Nagy needs to keep feeding the run game. That’s what the Colts did, running 38 times even though they only averaged 2.7 yards per run. They didn’t get much on many runs but they had some big runs that were key in extending drives and forcing the Bears to respect the run, thereby allowing Rivers to make big completions.
Montgomery needs to continually get the ball. As good as he is at breaking tackles he’s sure to get some big runs. The Panthers run defense struggles. The Panthers rank 25th in rushing yards allowed, 27th in rushing touchdowns allowed, and 31st in average yards per run. They are perfectly tailored to help improve the Bears’ running game.
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Nagy will have ten days to prepare a game plan that includes a heavy dose of Montgomery. By doing so, it takes even more pressure off of Foles. A good running game just makes the offense run better. Let’s just hope that Nagy remembers what he said back in May.